As anyone who follows this column knows, the range of events and performances that hit Edmonds venues is truly extraordinary. And, the coming week’s selections are certainly no exception.
Just for starters we have the 2017 JUNO Award Winner and jazzy smooth trumpeter Bria Skonberg’s appearance on stage at Edmonds Center for the Arts, which will also host Randy Newman – who set in motion an instantaneous sell-out; and then on to. . . Dracula at the Driftwood. Read on to learn more about Skonberg.
This town is going to “sizzle” even as the air chills and ghoulish fingers of fog curl up from Brackett’s Landing as Halloween draws near. (For those who are new to Artfully Edmonds, you’ll soon learn just how enthusiastic I am about this time of year!)
Galas are lighting up our premiere venues, the floodlights at our playhouses are brightly lit, and our galleries are abuzz with news of what’s happening on Edmonds’ exploding arts scene.
All of this would not be possible without the generous support of our community through the annual ECA gala. My Edmonds News covered the event and filed this photo feature.
We begin this week’s column with an (excerpted) note of gratitude from Edmonds Center for the Arts’ Boards of Directors on the heels of a smashing 11th Annual Auction and Gala:
ECA’s 11th Annual Gala was an evening to remember: glorious food, glittering guests – and generous giving!
On behalf of all of us at Edmonds Center for the Arts, thank you for starting our second decade with such grace. This year’s event raised $330,000 in total revenue, including donations, item purchases, ticket sales and sponsorship underwriting. We are thrilled and humbled by this open-hearted support.
It was such a special evening – a heart-warming statement of our community’s belief in the power and importance of the performing arts. Thank you to everyone!
Please Save the Date and plan now to join us next year for our 12th Annual Gala: Saturday, September 29, 2018!
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Before we begin the chronological line-up of events that will be shaking up Edmonds in the coming weeks, special mention of an opportunity for young people is in order:
Monday, Nov. 6 deadline
Call to Young Artists!
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Design Competition
2017 Holiday Card for
Lynnwood Convention Center
3711 196th St. SW
The Lynnwood Convention Center is looking for creative middle and high school students to help us design the artwork for its 2017 holiday greeting card.
The winning entry will be used on the front of the convention center’s holiday cards, which are mailed to current and potential customers, guests and partners of the Lynnwood Convention Center.
Design Rules
The artwork must contain one or both of the following aspects:
- Lynnwood Convention Center Logo
- Rendering of the Lynnwood Convention Center building
- No religious connotations, icons or symbols should be present in the artwork.
Submissions may be mailed to the Lynnwood Convention Center for emailed to info@lynnwoodcc.com with a subject line of “Art Contest Submission“.
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Engel’s Pub
113 5th Ave. S.
Fun changes are happening at Engel’s Pub, recently purchased by Dawn Vinberg, and we are recommending that the steppin’-out-for-a-pitcher crowd squeeze into the pub’s mini-dance floor for a stomp and shout for their high-caliber talent.
We recently noticed a change in the line-up when earlier in the month Richard Allen and The Louisiana Experience packed the place with fans of Zydeco and two-step.
Oh! And the new bartender’s name? “Jack”.
Friday, Sept. 29
9 p.m.
Rafael Tranquilino Band, a very popular blues and rock band, with a strong regional following, returns to Engel’s Pub.
Soon after his Edmonds appearance, Rafael — originally from Mexico City — will be traveling to Mexico to assist in the earthquake relief efforts. Artfully Edmonds will be on hand to throw into the tip jar and send this humanitarian-musician off on his mission.
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Saturday, Sept. 30
9 p.m.
Postcard West is appearing on Saturday. Although this is a new band to the scene, the musicians that comprise the band are well-established talent.
This is how they describe themselves on the band’s Facebook page, “Postcard West is a new band from Seattle, formed when two Midwesterners, fresh off the turnip truck, ambled into a songwriter’s round, heard each other’s tunes and simultaneously decided, “I need to play music with this person.”
Within 30 minutes of their first practice together, they co-wrote a song, thus confirming their simpatico musical chemistry.” If you are ready for an across-the-board rock, blues, everything-kind-of evening, a sip sip at Engel’s Pub might be fun for you.
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Saturday, Sept. 30
6 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
Conspiracy Theories
The Phoenix Theatre and
Edmonds Driftwood Players
Although the event poster for this year’s co-troupe 24-hour festival reads, “Top Secret” it’s no secret that this is event is going to be one hot momma of a production!
We recommend purchasing the festival option that allows you and your friends to be there, at The Phoenix Theatre when names are drawn and 8 directors are paired to 8 playwrights who will write the scripts for 24 actors showing off their talent at Edmonds’ two playhouses.
Act I ~ The Phoenix Theatre, 9673 Firdale Village, upper level. Curtain at 6 p.m.;
Act II ~ Edmonds Driftwood Players, 950 Main St., Curtain at 7:30 p.m.
Desserts! Hors d’oeuvres, and a no-host bar at each venue.
The clock is ticking! Don’t be left out – tickets for this year’s theatre festival are at this link.
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Saturday, Sept. 30
7:30 p.m.
The Four Tops ~ by Special Engagement
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
There is a smattering of seats available for this high-end production, a retrospective of one of America’s greatest, most beloved Motown bands.
Tickets are available by calling the ECA at 425-275-9595 or via the convenience of this electronic ticket link.
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Sunday, Oct. 1
4 p.m.
The Gothard Sisters
Thumbnail Theater
1211 4th St. ~ Snohomish
Sold Out!
Just to keep everyone up to date on the heartwarming success of Edmonds’ own Gothard Sisters. This weekend’s performance in Snohomish sold out a while back.
You’ll always be the first to know each time Willow, Greta and Solara return home if you follow Artfully Edmonds.
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Wednesday, Oct. 4
5 p.m.
Exhibition Opens!
Territorial Hues: The Color Print and Washington State
Subject: Elizabeth Warhanik
Cascadia Art Museum (CAM)
190 Sunset Ave. #E
This is one instance when membership really does have its privileges. CAM is throwing a party – and the guest list is comprised of members only – plus one guest.
So, if I were you, I’d sidle up to one of your friends who is a member of Cascadia Art Museum and flirt for guest privileges.
The party celebrates the opening of a retrospective of the work of Elizabeth Warhanik (1880-1968) among other Northwest artists, which will run through Jan. 7, 2018.
This premiere art museum has made a name for itself thanks to its architectural design, direction by the board members, witty and knowledgeable curator David F. Martin and its expansive collection, which memorializes the arts legacy of the Pacific Northwest.
Membership in CAM – it’s time!
Extraordinary curator David F. Martin, who is responsible for this collection, provides the following (excerpted) notes regarding the artist:
Elizabeth Campbell Warhanik one of six children born in Germantown, Penn. to J. Addison and Anna L. Campbell, whom had met while attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Elizabeth attended Wellesley College, where she studied painting with Charles Woodbury (1864-1940) and earned a degree in Classical Literature. She served as a Wellesley student-volunteer missionary for five years, teaching in Japan before moving to Seattle with her parents in 1907.
Elizabeth exhibited locally with the Seattle Fine Arts Society (predecessor of the Seattle Art Museum), where she won a prize in 1917. She exhibited in most of the region’s leading venues from 1916 through the late 1950s. In 1930, Elizabeth Warhanik became one of the founders of the Women Painters of Washington and the organization’s first president. With WPW, she exhibited locally and nationally, winning several awards. She was also an active member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and the Northwest Printmakers Society.
Coffee With the Curator
Sunday, Oct. 8
Join curator David F. Martin for an insider’s perspective of Territorial Hues: The Color Print and Washington State, 1920-1960. Following the hour-long tour, the museum invites you to enjoy coffee and pastries while David regales you with personal stories about artists and the art scene in the Pacific Northwest.
The museum has scheduled only two tours-with-coffee dates with David during Territorial Hues: The Color Print and Washington State, 1920-1960, so visit the ticket link today to ensure you don’t miss this talked-about event!
Purchase tickets by heading to the museum’s Public Programs page.
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Thursday, Oct. 5
7:30 p.m.
ECA’s 11th Season!
Bria Skonberg, Trumpet and so much more!
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
When each long note is individually executed, it’s Bria Skonberg on the triumpet!
Just listen and see if you don’t agree she’s reached the top in smokin’ hot style: Here’s Bria doing So Is The Day.
The 2017 JUNO winner for the category “Vocal Jazz Album” wins accolades from Downbeat Magazine, and compliments from the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most imposing and versatile musicians of her generation”. Bria Skonberg is on her way to Edmonds to open ECA’s 11th season!
Ranking in top music circles with Michael Bublé, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr., this A-list performer is described as bold, adventurous and smoky by critics who have had the pleasure of hearing her sophisticated style.
What a spectacular way to begin your own adventure into ECA’s 11th Season. Tickets for what will be a sizzler of a show are available through this convenient ticket link.
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Friday – Sunday
Oct. 6 – 8
Sold Out!
Write On The Sound (WOTS)
Writers, Writers, Everywhere!
Watch what you say on the streets of Edmonds the weekend of Oct. 6. This is fair warning that you could just see your words in someone’s next novel.
Edmonds Arts Commission sponsors Write On The Sound (WOTS), a premier writer’s conference, which draws top literary names.
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Friday, Oct. 6
8 p.m.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
The Phoenix Theatre
9673 Firdale Ave. ~ Upper level of Firdale Shopping Plaza
Christopher Durang’s Tony Award winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike opens next week at The Phoenix Theatre with 12 show run scheduled through Oct. 29.
Directed by Eric Lewis, the play revolves around the dysfunctional sibling trio of Vanya, Sonia and Masha.
Movie star sister Masha is just returning home, bringing with her neurotic drama, an endless litany of insecurities, and a much younger, gorgeous, yet dimwitted lover named Spike.
Clad as a glamorous Snow White, Masha insists Sonia and Vanya join her as Doc and Dopey to attend the costume soirée of a wealthy socialite. When Sonia revolts and shows up instead as the bewitching Maggie Smith from California Suite, tensions bubble over, and the fun and frenzy The Phoenix is famous for follows.
You will absolutely want to know who plays whom; so here’s the cast list:
Masha is played by Debra Gettleman; Melanie Calderwood takes on the role of Sonia, with Vanya’s part being played by Michael Gene McFadden. The troupe introduces briefly clad (pun intended) “Spike” – watch for the write up on this fresh new talent as My Edmonds News files its review of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and. . . Spike.
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Tuesday, Oct. 10
7:30 p.m.
Edmonds-Woodway High School
Jazz Band with Roxy Coss New York saxophonist
EWHS Theatre
7600 212th St. S.W.
Roxy Coss, established New York saxophonist and “. . . exceptional young talent” (NY Times) joins the Edmonds-Woodway High School Jazz Band and music director Jake Bergevin Tuesday on the EWHS stage.
Still fresh from their Essentially Ellington experience at New York’s Lincoln Center, the EWHS band maintains the attention of Earshot Jazz, holding a solid footing among the region’s top talent.
Learn more at this liner notes link.
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Dracula
Thursday, Oct. 12
8 p.m.
Dracula ~ a TIPs Production
Edmonds Driftwood Players
Wade James Theatre
950 Main St.
Directed by Paul Fleming and adapted from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, “this new adaptation restores the suspense and seduction of Bram Stoker’s classic novel to the stage,” according to Dramatists Play Service.
As Count Dracula begins to exert his will upon the residents of London, they try to piece together the clues of his appearances — in a desperate attempt to save themselves from a hideous fate.
Rich in both humor and horror, Fleming’s play paints a wickedly theatrical picture of Stoker’s famous vampire.
Click here for tickets to Dracula for yourself and anyone whose neck you may want to nibble!
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Friday, Oct. 13
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
KISW presents Problem Child performing
Highway to Hell versus Back in Black
6:30 p.m. ~ Pre-Show Charity Fundraiser ~ Elks BPOE
8 p.m. ~ Concert
Artfully Edmonds is placing a Sell Out Alert! on this event after checking the ticket availability. Every once in a while an event takes even Edmonds by storm – this is that event!
Problem Child, the ultimate AC/DC tribute band, assures us it is thrilled to return to the stage with a new show presenting “Highway to Hell vs. Back in Back” by playing both of these iconic albums front-to-back in their entirety (and more).
Problem Child has been rockin’ the Northwest to many sold-out shows since 2001. The band features two very authentic vocalists who will honor the duo that is included among rock’s greatest front men, Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.
The band is holding a pre-show charity fundraiser at ECA for the Elk’s Therapy Program for Children. Please join the band in helping the children assisted by this worthy cause, which pays 100 percent of local families’ unmet occupational and physical therapy expenses.
Like they say, Get your tickets before it’s too late!
— By Emily Hill
Emily Hill is the author of two novels and a short story collection. Emily is retired from a career in public information and news media relations. If you would like your event listed, or featured, in Artfully Edmonds, Emily invites you to contact her at myedmondsnews@gmail.com.
Thanks for the great coverage, Emily! You help keep us all connected – just one of the many reasons our arts community is so vibrant.
Dear Karen,
What a nice compliment.
Thank you, and congratulations once again to You and the whole ECA Team, Boards of Directors — Everyone! — who put together such a spectacularly successful 2017 Gala.
Warmest Regards,
Emily